Why are jokes so funny?

My 'Buddhist Traditions' instructor was once marveling at how Buddhist monks are so calm, serene, and unperturbed by anything in life. They seem not to be upset by anything in the world. This is because Samsara is a sham. She said ‘I always wondered how a monk would feel when he is in a roller coaster’. That was a side-splitter for me.

It intrigues me to think about what causes hilarity in jokes. At the foremost, why do we laugh? It at least got me thinking, and I came to realize that jokes target taboo, establishments and conventions, and even assumptions in life(I’ll illustrate this in a minute). Taboos are the most obvious target of jokes. That’s why non-veg jokes are so popular. They usually score well at tense environments. They sound funnier in formal or uncomfortable settings, like at meetings, presentations, microbuses, etc. Imagine a person who burps in the mid-sentence during a formal presentation.

One health concern is: can jokes (or laughter itself) be addictive? And do you remember (that is, if you were naughty enough when you were a kid) when you were fooling around with the kids of your age, and laughing a lot, an elderly, who could not relate with your humor, perhaps because of irritation or jealousy, say ‘You kids are laughing too much. It seems the crying time’s coming up’?

Comedians create humor by questioning assumptions too. George Carlin, the forerunner of random, one-liners (He literally invented or reinvented them), is famous for this. He is best as a stand-up comedian. He is 68 now, and became famous since the 70s, as a ‘fearless, thinking comedian of the counterculture’ (salon.com). I like him best for his original and individual thinking. In one of his performance, he defined his profession as: I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.

According to Carlin, Irony is A state of affairs that is the reverse of what was to be expected; a result opposite to and in mockery of the appropriate result. For instance: a diabetic, on his way to buy insulin, is killed by a runaway truck. He is the victim of an accident. If the truck was delivering sugar, he is the victim of an oddly poetic coincidence. But if the truck was delivering insulin, ah! Then he is the victim of an irony.